The husband of Liz Dawn has revealed her final words before her death.

Beloved actress Dawn, who played the part of Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street for 34 years, died aged 77 on September 25.

At the time her family said they had been left "devastated and heartbroken".

Her husband Don Ibbetson, 77, has now told how she held his hand moments before her death, saying: "You don't know how much I loved you, Don. I did from the very first moment we met."

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, he said: "It still feels a little unreal Liz has gone. She'd come through so many problems, so we all thought she was kind of unbreakable.

"But she battled until the end. When she did go it was very peaceful. To the country she was Vera - and she loved that. But to all of us she was Liz - the most perfect wife, mother and grandmother. I will love her for the rest of my days."

Dawn first appeared in Coronation Street in 1974 before her character moved into number nine along with on-screen husband Jack, played by the late Bill Tarmey.

She had been diagnosed with the lung disease emphysema in 2001 and was written out of the show in 2008 at her request.

At her funeral, her son Graham, one of her four children, revealed that the family only learned recently that medics did not think in 2001 she would survive beyond five years.